Long hoped for, the stars of the NHL have finally not been released for the 2022 Beijing Olympics hockey tournament, where Russia could confirm its coronation of 2018, while the women’s title should not escape North American domination. .
Repeat again : as in 2018, the players of the Bettman circuit will follow the Olympic Games (February 4-20) with a distracted eye, when they will have time between training and one of their many matches.
Four years ago, the NHL claimed in particular that the South Korean market was not important enough for its development. This time, the Chinese market promised to be full of promise for the powerful league, but it was the COVID-19 pandemic that got the better of its good (and mercantile) intentions.
With a considerable number (nearly a hundred) of meetings to be rescheduled due to cases of COVID in December within its franchises, the NHL preferred to take advantage of the three weeks of the Olympic period to try to hold its initial program.
“Our priority is and must remain to complete our regular season and the playoffs in the best possible way,” said commissioner Gary Bettman to justify his decision announced at the end of December.
The United States therefore did not send Patrick Kane and others, but a team composed mainly of players from the university championship and a few hockey players playing in Europe.
New German surprise?
Nathan Smith (Minnesota), the most prolific player in the American university championship, is logically part of the team. Just like his teammates Matthew Knies and Ben Meyers, Sean Farrell and Nick Abruzzese (Harvard), Matty Beniers and Brendan Brisson (Michigan)
Having to ignore superstars Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby, the Canadians, led by Jeremy Colliton, will have almost half of their squad from the Russian KHL league, including Lokomotiv Yaroslavl goalkeeper Edward Pasquale, and will want to regain their glory of yesteryear marked by the coronations of 2010 and 2014.
In this context, Russia, under a neutral flag due to several institutionalized doping scandals, will be favorites for its own succession, as it will have all its KHL stars, such as regular season top scorer Vadim Shipachyov or goalkeeper of CSKA Moscow, Ivan Fedotov.
The Olympic tournament in South Korea four years ago offered Germany’s surprise course, the Nationalmannschaft pushing Russia to extra time in the final (4-3).
On the women’s side, Canada and the United States have shared the six titles at stake since the women’s arrival on the Olympic program in 1998: four for Canada and two for the United States.
